John B. T. Campbell III

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John Campbell
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 48th district
Incumbent
Assumed office  December 7, 2005
Preceded by	Chris Cox
Born	July 19, 1955 (1955-07-19) (age 52) Los Angeles, California
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Katherine Campbell
Residence	Irvine, California
Religion	Presbyterian

For other persons of the same name, see John Campbell.

John Bayard Taylor Campbell III (born July 19, 1955, in Los Angeles, California) is a Republican U.S. politician who is currently a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing California's 48th Congressional District.

[edit] Early life

Born in Los Angeles, California, Campbell graduated high school from the Harvard School in 1972 and earned his B.A. in Economics from UCLA in 1976 at the age of 21 and his M.S. in Business Taxation from USC in 1977. After receiving his Master's degree, Campbell became a CPA and joined Ernst & Young as a tax accountant.

[edit] Business career

In 1985, Campbell became President and CEO of Campbell Automotive Group. In 1990, he became President and CEO of Saturn of Orange County. Campbell became Chairman and CEO of Saab of Orange County in 1999.

[edit] State legislative career

Elected to represent southern Orange County's 70th District in the California State Assembly in 2000, Campbell won 60% of the vote in a five-way race to replace term-limited Assemblywoman Marilyn Brewer. Campbell was reelected in 2002 with 67% of the vote.

In the 2004 race to replace the term-limited Ross Johnson in the 35th State Senate District, Campbell won the Republican primary with 61% of the vote against fellow Assemblyman Ken Maddox, who garnered only 30% of the vote. In the general election, Campbell won 64% of the vote.

As a Senator, Campbell served as Vice Chair of both the Business Professions and Economic Development Committee and the Labor and Industrial Relations Committee. He was also a member of the Budget and Fiscal Review Committee; the Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee; the Environmental Quality Committee; and the Government Modernization, Efficiency, and Accountability Committee.

[edit] 2005 Congressional election

Main article: California's 48th congressional district special election, 2005

After Congressman Chris Cox resigned to become Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Campbell became a candidate to replace Cox in the 48th Congressional District Special Election, scheduled for October 4, 2005. Campbell received endorsements from most of the important Republican officials in the state, but faced some criticism as his stance on illegal immigration was seen as being too lenient. Campbell faced a strong third-party challenge from American Independent Party candidate Jim Gilchrist. On October 4, Campbell garnered 45.5% of the vote, below the 50% needed to avoid a runoff. He faced Democrat Steve Young, American Independent Jim Gilchrist, Libertarian Bruce Cohen and Green Bea Tirtilli in the December 6 runoff, which he won with 44.4% of the vote. Campbell was sworn in on December 7.

Successfully re-elected to his first full term in 2006 with 60% of the vote, Representative Campbell has effectively taken up a leading fiscal conservative role, including his appointment as the Budget & Spending Taskforce Chairman for the Republican Study Committee (RSC), a caucus of more that 100 conservative members of Congress. Campbell also led the efforts to circulate a letter signed by 148 members of Congress who pledged to uphold any veto of an appropriations bill by President George W Bush for excessive spending. Most recently Campbell garnered national attention as one of the Congressmen leading the efforts against earmark abuse in spending legislation and calling for serious reform of the earmark process.

[edit] Committee Assignments

• Financial Services Committee
  • Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises
  • Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit
  • Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity
• Budget Committee
• Chairman of the Budget and Spending Task Force of the Republican Study Committee

[edit] Personal

Campbell lives in the affluent Shady Canyon neighborhood of Irvine, and has resided in Orange County since 1979. Married in 1980, Campbell has two sons, John IV ("Taylor") and Logan, with his wife, Catherine. He has a passion for cars.

[edit] External links

• Congressman John Campbell official U.S. House site
• Campbell for Congress official campaign site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Staff salary data at LegiStorm.com
• Current Bills Sponsored at StateSurge.com
• Congressional profile at GovTrack.us
• Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia
• Green Eyeshade Blog Townhall.com blog